he came to the field at noon, and after looking the work over,
instructed me to take the "coulter" off before I commenced work again in
the afternoon, adding that it would be easier for the mules as well as
myself.

I looked the plow over carefully and wondered what the "coulter" was.
After dinner I began work, hoping that some one might come along who
could post me. In this I was disappointed. Realizing that there must be
something done before Smith visited me in the evening, I decided he must
have meant the wheel at the end of the beam, and consequently took it
off and waited his coming.

When he arrived he looked at the plow a moment and said, in an impetuous
manner:

"Where is that wheel? I thought I told you to take the coulter off."

"Well, I did," I quickly replied. "I did take the coulter off, and as it
didn't work well I put it back on, and thought I would take the wheel
off."

"Where is the wheel?" he asked. I pointed to a stump some distance
away, and said:

"It's over there."

He said: "You take _that_ coulter off and I'll get the wheel."

"No," I said, "you take the coulter off; I am younger than you and will
go after the wheel." And before getting the words out of my mouth was
half way there. When I returned he was taking the coulter off.

I worked eleven days, and after receiving that many dollars left for
Chicago, where I had an uncle residing.

He gave me a cordial welcome and said I was just the lad he wanted to
see, as he had traded for a fruit stand the day before, and wanted me to
take charge of it.

The next morning he took me to the stand, which was a small frame
building--size, about eight by ten--which stood on the northwest corner
of Halsted and Harrison Streets.

This was a very slow business, and _too slow_ to suit me, yet I
continued to run it about three months, when by repeated losses on
decayed fruit, and the too frequent visits of relatives and friends, we
found the business in an unhealthy condition and lost no time in
looking up a buyer, which we were fortunate in finding and successful in
getting a good price from.

After receiving my share of the profits, which was about enough to pay
my expenses back to Ohio, I decided to go there.

On arriving home, my mother said she hoped I was satisfied now that I
couldn't make money, and that I was only fooling my time away. She said
she had told Mr. Keefer just how that fruit business would end.

I took Mr. Keefer to one si